Per-value user notification throttling in a software application

ABSTRACT

The present invention throttles notifications to a user based on changes in particular state values. A computer-implemented method manages notifications of changes to one or more settings of an application. The method includes: displaying a first notification of a change of a setting to a value; updating a count of notifications displayed for the value; and throttling a subsequent notification of a subsequent change of the setting to the value if the count exceeds a threshold.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Pat. Appl. No. 60/960,619, filed Oct. 5, 2007, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is related to notifications within a software application.

2. Background Art

A software application sometimes highlights or confirms a state change in the software application through some form of user notification. For example, a software application can provide a notification when a certain software event has occurred, such as when a software setting has changed or is about to be changed. The notification in a window-based user interface, for example, is typically provided in the form of a dialog box which alerts the user to the change of state. The user is then typically offered a choice through interaction with the dialog box or bubble to proceed or cancel the state change. Such user notification schemes in software applications can quickly become a nuisance for a user if the notifications are triggered too frequently. While the number of notifications provided to a user can be limited to a predetermined number within a predefined time period, it is preferable to provide a user notification scheme with an improved user experience.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present invention throttles notifications to a user based on changes in particular state values. A computer-implemented method manages notifications of changes to one or more settings of an application. The method includes: displaying a first notification of a change of a setting to a value; updating a count of notifications displayed for the value; and throttling a subsequent notification of a subsequent change of the setting to the value if the count exceeds a threshold.

In another embodiment, a system manages notifications of changes to one or more settings of an application. The system includes an event notifier module that displays a first notification of a change of a setting to a value. An event counter module updates a count of the notifications displayed for the value. A throttle module throttles a subsequent notification of a subsequent change of the setting to the value if the count exceeds a threshold.

In a third embodiment, a computer program product has control logic stored therein, and the control logic causes a computer to manage notifications of changes to one or more settings of an application. The control logic causes the computer to display a first notification of a change of a setting to a value. The control logic also causes the computer to update a count of the notifications displayed for the value. Finally, the control logic causes the computer to throttle a subsequent notification of a subsequent change of the setting to the value if the count exceeds a threshold.

Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of the various embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and to use the invention.

FIG. 1 shows an example user interface display containing a notification window.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method for throttling notifications according to an embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 3 is an architecture diagram for a system for throttling notifications according to an embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical or functionally similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In embodiments, a new user notification system and method for a software application operating on a computing device are herein disclosed. The software application keeps track of not only how many times a particular notification has been triggered but also a particular state change value associated with an event that triggered the notification. The notifications to a user can then be throttled on a per-value basis. Accordingly, a software application can throttle back the notifications when the notifications are based on a same value—and can resume full notifications when the new notifications are based on a different value.

While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those skilled in the art with access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the invention would be of significant utility.

In the detailed description of the invention herein, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

FIG. 1 illustrates a user interface display 100 of an example software application operating on a computing device. The user interface display integrates a notification mechanism, as illustrated by a notification dialog box 102. The notification indicates some event has triggered representing some form of state change in the software application. For example, in FIG. 1, the notification indicates that a setting in the software application has been changed to a value of “XXX”. The notification dialog box further indicates that the user may retain the original settings or may allow the setting to be changed to the value of “XXX” by selecting one of the options in the dialog box.

It should be noted that FIG. 1 is merely illustrative and that the present invention is not limited to the user interface depicted in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method for throttling notifications according to an embodiment of this invention. Routine 200 illustrates processing that may be performed by a computing device in determining whether to display a notification such as, for example, notification dialog box 102 in FIG. 1. A table may maintain a count of how many times the notification has been displayed for the user per value associated with the setting change. Examples are provided in describing this method are illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention. Step 201 detects an event triggered by the relevant state change, for instance in the above example, the change of the software application setting to value “XXX”. As an illustrative example, the state change may be a change of a homepage setting to a value “www.example.com”.

Step 202 determines how long has it been since the notification was last triggered. If the last event occurred more than some predetermined period of time, e.g., after a few days or a week of active usage of the computing device by the user, the computing device resets the count for the value “XXX” at step 203. For example, if the predetermined period of time was three days and the last attempt to change a homepage setting to “www.example.com” was four days ago, the count for the value “www.example.com” would be reset to zero. Accordingly, if the event occurs too frequently, the count will not reset and the user will not be required to receive excessive notifications. It can be preferable to discount time where the user has not used the computing device for a long time. For example, it would be preferable that the user not be bombarded with various notifications after a long period of non-use, e.g., after a vacation.

Step 204 determines whether the count has exceeded some throttling threshold for the value “XXX”, e.g., three times. If the count does not exceed the throttling threshold, then the notification is displayed to the user through the user interface at step 205. The count for the value “XXX” is then incremented at step 206.

If the count has exceeded the throttling threshold, the computing device can decline to show the notification or can downgrade the notification to a more innocuous form, e.g., the computing device can cause the user interface to display an icon or a bubble from a status bar rather than a full dialog box. The computing device can vary the duration of the visibility of the bubble or the icon, depending on the count.

As an illustrative example, suppose the notification throttling threshold is three. An event tries to change a homepage setting to the value “www.example.com”. If the present count for “www.example.com” is three, then step 205 shows a notification, such as notification dialog 102 in FIG. 1, and step 206 increments the count for “www.example.com” to four. If the present count for “www.example.com” is four, then there may be no notification, or the notification may be more innocuous.

As noted above, a count is maintained for different setting values. A separate count can be maintained for each unique setting value or, alternatively, for ranges or groups of setting values. For example, where the setting value is a website address or a URL, the count can be maintained for each hostname rather than for each unique URL. This may be implemented, for example, by representing values as regular expressions.

Throttling can then be carried out based on changes in one or more of the different setting values. Throttling can be carried out when counts of notifications made for changes in different setting values exceed a throttling threshold. Different throttling thresholds can also be used to control throttling differently for different setting values. For example, suppose a notification throttling threshold is three for a setting value corresponding to a homepage setting value “www.example1.com”, and a second notification throttling threshold is thirty for a setting value corresponding to a homepage setting value “www.example2.com.” In this way, a user experience of notifications can be regulated differently for different setting values.

Where a single computing device is used by multiple users with different user accounts, the computing device can maintain the counts on a per user basis.

FIG. 3 is an architecture diagram for a system 300 for throttling notifications according to an embodiment of this invention. System 300 contains a user interface 302 coupled to a computing system 310.

User interface 302 enables a user to interact with computing system 310. User interface 302 may include an output display, such as a computer monitor. User interface 302 may include an input device, such as a keyboard, mouse, or touch screen.

Computing system 310 may be implemented on any client device that can support web browsing. Such a client device can include, but is not limited to, a personal computer, mobile device such as a mobile phone, workstation, embedded system, game console, television, set-top box, or any other computing device. Such a client device may include, but is not limited to, a device having a processor and memory for executing and storing instructions. Such a client device may include software, firmware, and hardware. Software may include one or more applications and an operating system. Hardware can include, but is not limited to, a processor, and memory.

Computing system 310 includes an event notifier 312, throttle 318, event counter 314, and software settings 316. Each of event notifier 312, event counter 314, and software settings 316 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof.

Software settings 316 maintain values for settings for a particular software application. For example, software settings 316 may maintain a value for a homepage setting (not shown).

Event counter 314 maintains a count for each value. For example, a count of how many times a notification has been displayed for a user per value associated with a setting change may be maintained. For example, if there have been two attempts to change a homepage setting to value “www.example.com” since the last time the count was reset, the count for value “www.example.com” would be two. In another embodiment, event counter 314 may maintain counts for each value for each user. In an example of that embodiment, if there have been two attempts to change a homepage setting for a user “JDoe” to value “www.example.com”, the count for that value for that user would be two. In still another example, event counter 314 may maintain counts for each value or groups of values as described above for each user. As an illustrative example, event counter 314 may maintain counts for each value in a table or relational database.

Event notifier 312 displays a notification, such as notification dialog box 102 in FIG. 1, to the user. Event notifier 312 may use user interface 302 to display the notification. Event notifier 312 may display the notification with a notification dialog box or in a less obtrusive form, e.g., the event notifier 312 can cause the user interface to display an icon or a bubble from a status bar rather than a full dialog box.

Throttle 318 determines when the counts exceed one or more throttling threshold and throttles further display of notifications of changes in setting values when a throttling threshold is exceeded. Throttle 318 may be triggered by an attempt to make a change in software settings 316 to a new value. Once triggered, throttle 318 may use a count for the value maintained by event counter 314. If the count is at or below a threshold, throttle 318 may signal event notifier 318 to display a notification. If the count exceeds the threshold, throttle 318 may signal event notifier 318 to display the notification in a less obtrusive manner or may not signal event notifier 318.

The present invention is not limited to monitoring state changes with event counts that count the number of occurrences of events. Event frequency or other state indicators for events may be used.

The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments of the present invention as contemplated by the inventor(s), and thus, are not intended to limit the present invention and the appended claims in any way.

The present invention has been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applying knowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present invention. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance.

The breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A computer-implemented method for managing notifications of changes to a setting of an application, comprising: (a) displaying a first notification of a change to a value for the setting; (b) updating a count of notifications displayed for the value; and (c) throttling a display of a subsequent notification of a subsequent change to the value for the setting when the count exceeds a threshold, the throttling (c) comprising: (i) displaying the subsequent notification less obtrusively than the first notification displayed in (a), or (ii) stopping display of the subsequent notification.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the throttling (c) comprises the displaying (i), and the displaying (i) comprises displaying an icon or a bubble from a status bar.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying (a) comprises displaying the first notification to a user, wherein the updating (b) comprises updating the count associated with the user, wherein the throttling (c) comprises throttling the subsequent notification to the user.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: (d) determining a time since a notification for a change in the setting was triggered; and (e) resetting the count if the time exceeds a first time limit.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: (f) reducing the first time limit if a user has not used the application for a second time limit.
 6. A system for managing notifications of changes to a setting of an application, comprising: an event notifier module that displays a first notification of a change to a value for the setting; an event counter module that updates a count of notifications displayed for the value; and a throttle module that throttles a display of a subsequent notification of a subsequent change to the value for the setting when the count exceeds a threshold by displaying the subsequent notification less obtrusively than the first notification or by stopping display of the subsequent notification, wherein the event notifier module, the event counter module, and the throttle module are implemented on a processing device.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the throttle module displays the subsequent notification as an icon or a bubble from a status bar when the count exceeds the threshold.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the count is associated with a user.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the event counter module determines a time since a notification for a change in the setting was triggered and resets the count if the time exceeds a first time limit.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the throttle module reduces the first time limit if a user has not used the application for a second time limit.
 11. A computer program product comprising a nontransitory computer readable medium having control logic stored therein, said control logic for causing a computer to manage notifications of changes to a setting of an application, said control logic comprising: a first computer readable program code that causes the computer to display a first notification of a change to a value for the setting; a second computer readable program code that causes the computer to update a count of notifications displayed for the value; and a third computer readable program code that causes the computer to throttle a display of a subsequent notification of a subsequent change to the value for the setting if the count exceeds a threshold by displaying the subsequent notification less obtrusively than the first notification or by stopping display of the subsequent notification.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising a fourth computer readable program code that causes the computer to display the subsequent notification as an icon or a bubble from a status bar when the count exceeds the threshold.
 13. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising a fourth computer readable program code that causes the computer to determine a time since a notification for a change in the setting was triggered and resets the count if the time exceeds a first time limit.
 14. The computer program product of claim 13, further comprising a fifth computer readable program code that causes the computer to reduce the first time limit if a user has not used the application for a subsequent time limit. 